waterway

English

Huge amounts of cargo are moved on waterways (sense 1).

This map shows inland waterways (sense 1) in the United States.

Etymology

From Middle English waterwey, from Old English wæterweġ (“waterway”), from Proto-West Germanic *watarweg, equivalent to water +‎ way. Compare Saterland Frisian Woaterwai (“waterway”), West Frisian wetterwei (“waterway”), Dutch waterweg (“waterway”), German Wasserweg (“waterway”), Danish vandvej (“waterway”), Swedish vattenväg (“waterway”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔːtəweɪ/
• (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /ˈwoːtəwɛj/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) enPR: wôʹtər-fôl, wŏʹtər-fôl
  • (without the cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔtɚweɪ/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈwɑtɚweɪ/
• (Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈwoːtəwæɪ/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔtəɾwe/
• (Wales, without the pane–pain merger) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔːtəwei/

Noun

waterway (plural waterways)

2. A body of water, such as a river, channel or canal, that is navigable.

   Hyponyms: shipway, seaway, canal

   • 2013 March 12, Vivian Kuo, “No answers in disappearance of New Orleans teacher”, in CNN‎^[1], archived from the original on 1 July 2018:

     As hundreds of volunteers and police scoured parks and waterways in an area of New Orleans Tuesday, there were many questions but few answers about the disappearance 11 days ago of a 26-year-old teacher.

   • 2026 March 20, Eleni Giokos, “The Strait of Hormuz is about more than just oil. It feeds 100 million people”, in CNN Business‎^[2], archived from the original on 23 March 2026:

     Oil and liquefied natural gas tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz carry around 20% of the world’s supply. But for countries on the Persian Gulf, the waterway is more than just an energy route – it’s a lifeline for more than 100 million people.

4. A conduit or watercourse, such as on the deck of a ship, to drain water.

Related terms

• waterland

Translations

navigable body of water

• Arabic: مَمَرّ مَائِيّ m (mamarr māʔiyy)
• Armenian: ֆարվատեր (hy) (farvater), նավարկուղի (navarkuġi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 水路 (zh) (shuǐlù), 航道 (zh) (hángdào)

• Czech: vodní cesta f
• Danish: vandvej (da) c
• Dutch: vaarweg (nl) m, waterweg (nl) m, vaarwater (nl) n
• Esperanto: akvovojo
• Finnish: vesitie (fi), vesiväylä (fi), laivaväylä
• French: voie navigable (fr) f
• Georgian: ფარვატერი (parvaṭeri)
• German: Wasserstraße (de) f, Wasserweg (de) m, Fahrwasser (de) n
• Hebrew: נְתִיב מַיִם (he) m (netiv mayim)
• Indonesian: jalan air (id)
• Japanese: 水路 (ja) (すいろ, suiro)
• Korean: 수로 (ko) (suro)
• Lithuanian: vandentakis m, vandens kelias m
• Māori: hawai, arawai
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vannvei m, vassdrag (no) n

• Persian: آبراه (fa) (âbrâh)
• Polish: droga wodna f
• Portuguese: hidrovia (pt) f
• Romanian: cale navigabilă f
• Russian: фарва́тер (ru) m (farvátɛr), во́дный путь m (vódnyj putʹ)
• Spanish: hidrovía (es) f, torrentera f
• Tagalog: alulusan
• Vietnamese: đường thủy, đường sông, thủy lộ (vi)
• Welsh: dyfrffordd f, camlas f
• Yakut: уу суола (uu suola)
• Zazaki: vaya awer f

Further reading

• “waterway”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• waterway - Students, kids.britannica.com
• Glossary:Navigable inland waterway, ec.europa.eu